St. Ives Suit Signals Potential Risk In Using Natural Microbead Alternatives

If it’s successful, a class action against Unilever in California could pose a wider “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation for marketers of cosmetic cleansers. With plastic microbeads’ use in such products now banned in the US, companies are racing to replace the ingredients with natural exfoliants such as walnut shell powder, which the plaintiffs say is damaging to skin and unfit for use in St. Ives Apricot Scrub.